75Gal Reef Lighting

[RobE]

I am new to saltwater but have decided to set up a 75 gal reef tank. I am going to build a canopy for my tank and will be doing my own lights. I was going to do all t-5 lights until i discovered some diy articles on metal halides. I did some reading including the sticky in the diy section and decided to do 2x54 t-5 acintic bulbs and 2x175 watt 10000k xm bulbs. The first question is will i be able to run this setup without a chiller? Second i don't really plan on having hard corals but my wife likes the clams and i know they require alot of light, Will this be enough to keep them? I am still doing research on everything i am just looking for some direction to keep me on the right track. I recently set up a 10gal salt tank and it has become very addicting as i am sure you all know. Thanks in advance Rob.

 

[mr.reef24]

you can get the Ice Cap t-5's and be completely fine and not need halides or battle heat issue's due to the canopy. also will be able to comfortably house sps, lps, and clams with no problems

mr.reef24

 

[RobE]

Are you referring to the 4 bulb retrofit kit?

 

[Mr.Firemouth]

Yes he is.
I would also shy away from the MH unless you want point source lighting(that creates glitter lines through the water like sunlight does) or you want to deal with heat. The MH wattage should also be a 150w or 250w as bulb choices and ballast are unlimited in these configurations. The 175w is more of an oddball size and is not as popular/common.

The other option that I would recommend to anyone doing a DIY light is VHO fluorescents! These are excellent lights and have been around for 2 decades! They can be run by IceCap 660 ballast, they are easily wired, and they have very good waterproof end caps available for them! This is a pic of an SPS frag tank powered by VHO....